[Oricon Monthly] October’s Album and Single rankings are out

October was a month filled with 2.5D units’ releases. Tsukipro, A3!, Dynamic Chord and Ensemble Stars!; it was also the month that marked the comeback of Shouta Aoi and Hiroshi Kamiya with new releases after several months of absence.

Among all those releases there were several that made the cut and impress on Oricon’s monthly ranking – that relies solely on final sales figures on a specific month. We take a look at those below in a summarized version of the chart.

Single

Ensemble Stars! franchise with two releases within top 20

Another great month for Ensemble Stars!‘s franchise. UNDEAD debuted on #4 on Oricon Weekly and kept a stable rank throughout the month of October. The pop-rockers scored a solid #14 on this month’s chart.

Another Ensemble Stars!‘s release featured on this chart is 2wink‘s “TRICK with TREAT“, an unusual single that featured UNDEAD. The single debuted on #6 on Oricon Weekly and alike UNDEAD‘s, its run on Oricon was rather comfortable, earning the unit a safe #18 on this month’s chart.

Hiroshi Kamiya showcasing his popularity

“Kamisama Connection” was released on the second week of October. The release was met with mixed reviews, however its ranks on Oricon didn’t diplay those doubts. The single quickly snatched a top 10 spot (#3) on its first week of sales. By the end of October, “Kamisama Connection” ended up in a robust #16 with 18,451 copies sold.

Okamoto’s Halloween themed single earns him a top #35

Nobuhiko Okamoto‘s “Melty Halloween” was released just in time to celebrate Halloween. It had a solid first week of sales on Oricon, scoring a stable #12, the highest any release of his has ever achieved. The single soon started to lose places on Oricon daily and weekly but by the end of the month it still managed to grab a #35.

TSUKIPRO THE ANIMATION: SolidS within top 40 with Burny!!!

SolidS have been on an impressive run of their own. The TSUKIPRO unit, that up until now was ranking far from the top places on Oricon, secured a solid #15 on its chart debut and managed to maintain a rather stable rank on Oricon for two weeks. The release might have not sold an impressive amount of copies but it was more than enough to earn them a solid #37 on this month’s Oricon Weekly Chart.

This was the first time that SolidS changed their sound in such a drastic way. The blend between fast paced rap lines and harmonies with their own mix of rock and electronica, made this song an instant favorite among their fans. You can read our review HERE.

Album

A3! scores big: 4 releases featured on the monthly chart

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

October was a fabulous month for the A3! franchise that managed to rank all their “Blooming” CD series’ releases on Oricon Monthly’s October chart. The franchise had impressive sales figures in the past month, selling over 110.000 copies of this CD series.

All releases featured on Top 20 Oricon Monthly and 113.826 copies sold proves the outstanding popularity of the A3! franchise in Japan. A reminder that “Blooming AUTUMN” and “Blooming WINTER” are featured on this chart with only one day of sales counted (both were released on the first day of November but still counted on this chart). We’ve reviewed “Blooming SPRING“. You can check it HERE.

Shouta Aoi secures a top 30 spot

Shouta Aoi had a discreet solo album release. Considered by many – including us – as Aoi‘s best album, “0” had an unexpected journey. The album debuted high on Oricon daily and quickly shot for #7 on Oricon weekly. It had a safe first week of sales but unfortunately it quickly lost its way and fell from the top 50 spots after that.

Even if its chart journey was rather odd for an artist of Aoi‘s caliber and popularity, it still ranked at #29 on Oricon Monthly with a total of 14,543 copies sold. You can read our review HERE.

IDOLM@STER SideM grab another spot on Oricon Monthly

The popular franchise managed is back at it. This time around it was the release “ORIGN@AL PIECES 08” that helped the franchise score a top 35 spot.

If you feel like comparing releases within the franchise, in comparison with September’s IDOLM@ASTER SideM release (PIECES 07), this one sold more copies but ranked lower. Still, this was a solid release that performed well in what was yet another tough month of releases.

HEAVENS enter the chart on its last day

With only one day of sales counted for this month (the chart still counts the releases made on the first day of the subsequent month), HEAVENS barely managed to chart on the monthly chart. HEAVEN SKY impressed not only us, but also their fans with their trademark sound.

The revamped approach to their music earned them a solid first day of sales that enable the group to enter the chart at #46 (last place is #50). You can read our review HERE.

Author: Vanessa Silva (midorin)

The Hand That Feeds HQ founder and music reviewer writing about Japanese music since 2010. Metalhead. Gamer. Based in Cascais, Portugal. Mamoru Miyano's "Orpheus" was the catalyst to start writing about male seiyuu music.
View all posts by Vanessa Silva (midorin)